So Mukesh Ambani—the guy who's basically the Indian Elon Musk but with more actual products across telecom and retail—is making a seriously ambitious push to embed AI into everything people use every day through Reliance Industries! I've been reading this TechCrunch piece by Devindra Hardawar about his vision, and honestly it goes way beyond just "put ChatGPT in our phone" because he's got custom LLaMa-based models from Microsoft baked directly into the JioPhone Next lineup coming out later this year for personal calls. But that's literally just one part of a much bigger AI play happening across his entire empire, which is wild to think about given how massive Reliance already is—he sits at Asia's richest man with over $200 billion USD according to Forbes! And it all ties back into what he announced recently: Jio Platforms is leading India's biggest-ever share sale through an IPO that could launch as early as January or February of 2026, so the AI push is happening just in time for this massive capital raise.
What I find most interesting here isn't just which products get AI, but how he wants it integrated from day one rather than bolted on later—every call through his telecom network becomes an "AI-powered" experience because of these custom LLaMa models doing the heavy lifting underneath. His smart home devices are getting baked-in intelligence so your house actually understands what you need instead of being a bunch of connected gadgets that still require manual input. And then there's retail, entertainment, and all those other businesses under his umbrella where AI becomes core to how they operate rather than just another marketing buzzword on their website! It sounds like he wants Indian consumers everywhere—whether in Mumbai apartments or rural villages—to experience this unified ecosystem of connected devices that communicate with each other seamlessly.
I have to say I'm genuinely excited about a billionaire actually making bold moves beyond the usual PR announcements, and if Ambani can pull off getting LLaMa models running on affordable phones alongside homes across India (where his companies are already reaching hundreds of millions), it could reshape how billions of people interact with technology outside Silicon Valley. The fact that this all aligns with a massive IPO suggests he's not just building cool products for show—he actually expects these AI initiatives to drive the valuation up significantly when shares start trading later this year!
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/19/billionaire-ambani-wants-ai-in-every-call-app-and-home/
What I find most interesting here isn't just which products get AI, but how he wants it integrated from day one rather than bolted on later—every call through his telecom network becomes an "AI-powered" experience because of these custom LLaMa models doing the heavy lifting underneath. His smart home devices are getting baked-in intelligence so your house actually understands what you need instead of being a bunch of connected gadgets that still require manual input. And then there's retail, entertainment, and all those other businesses under his umbrella where AI becomes core to how they operate rather than just another marketing buzzword on their website! It sounds like he wants Indian consumers everywhere—whether in Mumbai apartments or rural villages—to experience this unified ecosystem of connected devices that communicate with each other seamlessly.
I have to say I'm genuinely excited about a billionaire actually making bold moves beyond the usual PR announcements, and if Ambani can pull off getting LLaMa models running on affordable phones alongside homes across India (where his companies are already reaching hundreds of millions), it could reshape how billions of people interact with technology outside Silicon Valley. The fact that this all aligns with a massive IPO suggests he's not just building cool products for show—he actually expects these AI initiatives to drive the valuation up significantly when shares start trading later this year!
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/19/billionaire-ambani-wants-ai-in-every-call-app-and-home/